
“I try to put myself — in physical locations —where the possibility exists to be astonished.” - Keith Carter
ABOUT BILL HUGHES
Bill Hughes was introduced to photography at the age of eight. when he learned to mix chemicals and develop film in his dad’s photography studio in Lumberton, North Carolina. His dad, prior to settling down and starting a family, had worked throughout the United States as a free lance photographer for the Associated Press. After high school graduation, he traveled as a musician in a US Navy Band throughout the Far East for several years. He then went to the University of Oregon and University of Michigan, studying music as an organ performance major. During the late 60s and 70s, he worked in a variety of jobs: a New York City taxi driver; a musician in off-off Broadway theater; a church organist and, in Almeria, Spain in 1969, as a movie extra for “spaghetti westerns.”
In the early 1990’s he began photographing the Latino community in the North End of Springfield, Massachusetts, creating the Pa’lante series while studying with the photographer Robert Aller at Holyoke Community College. His work was later strongly influenced by the late photographer, historian, critic and writer Ben Lifson, and later with Frank Ward, also a professor of photography at Holyoke Community College.
In recent years he has photographed on the streets of Berlin, Prague, Paris, the magical Greek island of Hydra, New York City and Venice Beach, California, where he visits yearly.
Hughes presently lives in the town of Montgomery, in Western Massachusetts with his wife and works in his private studio.

EXHIBITIONS
2020
This Is Us: Regional Portraiture Today, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA
2017
Recent Work: Robert Aller and William Hughes, Meta Lacy Gallery, New Britain Art League, New Britain, CT
Eyes of Western Massachusetts, Colson Gallery, Eastworks, Easthampton, MA
2015
Faces of the North End, Springfield Museums, Springfield, MA
2014
Travels with Epicurus: Photographs from Hydra, Greece, Westfield Athenaeum, Westfield, MA
2014
The Art of Handmade & Alternative Photography, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT
2013
Phontography Exhibition, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT
2012
Valley Photographers, Valley Photo Center, Springfield, MA, Through the Iris, The Photographic Perspective, Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA
2011
Group Exhibition, Taber Gallery, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA
2010
Group Show, Media Arts Center, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA
2009
Valley Photographers, Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA000 From This Seasoned Table, portraits of elderly writers, Wisteriahurst Museum, Holyoke, MA
2000
Secrets of Aging, Boston Museum of Science, Boston, MA, traveling United States in 2002
1996
WestFest Arts Festival, 1st prize, Black & White Photography
1993
Pa’lante Series, solo exhibition, Brightwood Library, Springfield, MA, Zone Art Center Springfield, MA 2nd Prize (juried by Marni Sandweiss, Mead Art Museum)
Pa’lante Series, solo exhibition, Visual Art Center Gallery, Springfield College, Springfield, MA
1992
New England Photographers ’92, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
1991
Pa’lante Series, solo exhibition, Forbes Library, Northampton, MA
AWARDS
2017
The Oven by Ilan Stavans, photographs by Bill Hughes, University of Massachusetts Press
2012
Dan Klein: Travels with Epicurus Explores The Best Path To A Fulfilled Old Age, New York Times
2007
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding philosophy through jokes, author photographs, Abrams Image, New York
2003
North Light and the Digital Darkroom, contributing writer, eDIGITALPHOTO,
2003
Black And White and Color Fine Art, Bill Hughes website review, Joe Farace, Shutterbug Magazine
1997
Many Families, Many Literacies, Heinemann Press, Portsmouth, NH
1995
Living Together, winner, Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO World Photo Contest
1994
Believe in Yourself, fifty portraits, Published by Read/Write/Now Adult Learning Center, Springfield